Washington’s Headquarters Homeowners Association
Board Meeting
April 4, 2010
Present
Eli Cohn, Sabin Meyer, Mick Cartwright, Toni Schoen, Bernice Giscombe
Ann Tannenbaum, Jeff Coyne
Visitors
Cristina Bloise – Impact Management
Issues for the board or the management company can be emailed to
board@washingtonshq.com or telephone 914 512 8129.
The next meeting is scheduled for 8pm Monday, May 2nd will be held at unit 18.
Previous Minutes:
The Board approved the minutes of the last meeting.
Financials
Eli presented the monthly summary balance sheet. We are in a good position financially, but need to remain conservative in order to build up reserves in anticipation of future projects.
Pool Update
The pool is in the process of being opened for the season. Finishing touches will be completed shortly and the pool is anticipated to be open within the coming week.
The village permit is outstanding (they need to see other permits in place first).                              Action Cristina
Conversion of Swimming Pool Heating to Gas
The board is investigating the cost of converting the swimming pool heater to gas. This would involve laying a gas line from the existing main to the pool house.    From early findings, it appears that this would be an expensive exercise to lay a gas line from the main on Broadway to the pool house. While we attempt to conserve funds for the refurbishment or repair of the front wall, this is unlikely to be undertaken.
Tennis Court
The tennis court is opening on May 1st.
Gardening
Bernice and Anne met with Carlo, our gardening contractor, and carried out a thorough walk through of the property.  They identified with Carlo a number of areas for attention and also addressed concerns that residents have brought to the board regarding the gardening.  Examples of issues covered include:
- Snow/Salt damage to the lower areas of shrubs needs to be taken care of
- Expand grounds maintenance to include full length of bed beside tennis court
- Remove dead birch tree from beside pool house
- More careful pruning of plans over trellis arch in rear garden
- Carlo’s team to replace patio furniture after they move it while cleaning
- Flower beds in front of some units need new shrubs
- Add plantings to the edge of the driveway around where the dumpsters used to be
- Care and replanting of the grass alongside unit 9
The board approved the costs associated with the additional work.
There is a green metal gate in the center of the garden, covering a brick lined hole that is collapsing. We are checking with Con Ed and others before doing anything, but if it is not a utility, propose to fill in the hole and remove the grate.                                                                                                                                                                                                       Action Mick
The sprinkler system should be made ready for use by May 1st.                                                                  Action Cristina
Trees
We will carry out a walk through of the property with a tree care firm to check all trees and identify any pruning needed.                                                                                                                                                                                     Action Mick/Cristina
Verizon Fios
Verizon has been steadily extending their Fios service to cover Dobbs Ferry. A number of residents expressed interest in obtaining this service. Verizon will be installing the necessary wiring in the near future.  There is no obligation to take any service from Verizon, and there is no cost to the HOA in having this work done. The work will simply allow each household to make a choice now or in the future between Optimum & Verizon for cable television, internet and phone service.
There will be some disruption while the work is carried out:
- Verizon will be marking up the driveway to label the sub surface utilities.  Once all work is complete we will have these markings cleaned off or painted over.
- Verizon intend to use a tunneling machine to avoid digging up the driveway. There may be spots where this is not possible and so they may have to excavate in certain areas.
- The service boxes will be installed in the flower bed in front of each unit.  This again will involve some digging and we are coordinating with our gardener to ensure that he does not do the summer plantings before this work is complete.  If you have any ornamental additions to the front flower bed, you may wish to temporarily move these for safety.
Outside Lighting
We continue to explore functional and cost effective solutions to resolve the challenges with the outdoor lighting. We had our electrical vendor, Switch Electric, evaluate the problems and they provided recommendations on what would be required to re-wire the areas affected to continue with hard wired power lighting. The expense is significant so we will continue to pursue and test solar options to determine if they are sufficient. We are ordering another solar light that is not motion sensitive and triggered by movement, but will provide continuous illumination. If viable, we will likely pursue this course.                                                                                                                                                                Action Mick
Driveway
The frost heaves caused by the rough winter weather will be addressed. Since we are planning on having Verizon Fios wired into the development and this installation may require Verizon to cut into the driveway we will hold off on having the winter’s damage repaired until after Verizon finishes their work.
Contacts
Bernice has updated the contact list of homeowners and residents. The file has been posted to the website (www.washingtonshq.com) and the email distribution list has been updated.
Parking
We are investigating adding an additional visitors/service parking space where the garden dumpsters used to be (beside existing visitors parking).                                                                                                                                                   Action Mick
Any Other Business
1) Trash can at bus stop outside exit – we will call the village.                                                                           Action Mick
2) The board continues to seek a resolution to the attempt by a homeowner to lease a portion of their unit.